Bodija Market is a popular open-air

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

located in

Bodija Bodija is a district in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. The district gained prominence with the development of like-named high brow, a leafy residential estate created by the Western Nigeria Region after the independence of Nigeria. Most of the early ...

Ibadan North Ibadan North is a Local Government Area in Oyo State, Nigeria. Its headquarters stood at Agodi in Ibadan. The postal code of the area is 200. Demographics It has an area of 27 km and a population of 856,988 according to the Oyo State Govern ...

Oyo State Oyo State is an inland state in southwestern Nigeria. Its capital is Ibadan, the third most populous city in the country and formerly the second most populous city in Africa. Oyo State is bordered to the north by Kwara State, to the east by Osun ...

, South Western

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

History

The market was originally a fighting arena, which is reflected in its name. The market was established in October 1987. Its establishment came as a result of growth and overcrowding at the Orita Merin foodstuff market in Ibadan. The Oyo State government under the military administration of

Tunji Olurin Adetunji Idowu Ishola Olurin mni ( yo, Adétúnjí Ìdòwú Ìṣọ̀lá Olúrìn; 3 December 1944 – 20 August 2021) was a Nigerian one-star general in the national army, who served as the military Governor of Oyo State and Field Commander o ...

then relocated many food stuff traders from Orita Merin to the new Bodija market in 1987. Along with the produce traders, cattle sellers from Sango, Ibadan were also relocated to the market. The location of the market is close to the Oyo-

Ogbomoso Ogbomosho (also Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́) is a city in Oyo State, south-western Nigeria. It was founded in the mid 17th century. The population was approximately 454,690 in the 2006 census. It is the second largest city in Oyo State and also among ...

Ilorin Ilorin is the List of capitals of states of Nigeria, capital city of Kwara State in Western Nigeria.. Retrieved 18 February 2007 As of the 2006 census, it had a population of 777,667, making it the List of Nigerian cities by population, 7th ...

interstate road network. This allows produce farmers from Northern Nigeria and from Northern Oyo state easier access to transport their produce to the market. Also, a timber market exist in close proximity to Bodija. The design of the market is such that each produce such as pepper, beans, potatoes, rice and yam has its own rows of stalls. The market is a mixture of open space trading and concrete and wooden stalls. A lot of wholesalers gravitate towards ownership of the concrete stalls while retailers own most of the open space kiosks and trading locations. In 2014, the license of the slaughterhouse in the Bodija Market was revoked due to unhygienic meat handling practices. In its place, the local government opened the Ibadan Central Abattoir in Amosun Village, Akinyele through public-private partnerships. The new facility is equipped with modern facilities for slaughter and processing of meat were provided in 2014 through public-private partnerships and is one of the largest abattoirs in West Africa, consisting of 15 hectares of land with stalls for 1000 meat sellers, 170 shops, administrative building, clinic, canteen, cold room, and an incinerator. In June 2018, local newspapers reported that five people were killed in the Bodija Market abattoir when a security team attempted to enforce the forcible relocation of Ibadan abattoirs to the new facilities as ordered by the local government.

Inter-ethnic clashes

In 2013, '' The Sun'' reported several inter-ethnic conflict between the

Hausa Hausa may refer to: * Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa * Hausa language, spoken in West Africa * Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states * Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse See also * ...

and

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

traders in the market.

Abattoir sanitation

From 2008 to 2009, a group of food safety researchers launched an initiative working with a small group of butchers in the

wet market A wet market (also called a public market or a traditional market) is a marketplace selling fresh foods such as meat, fish, produce and other consumption-oriented perishable goods in a non-supermarket setting, as distinguished from " dry market ...

section of Bodija Market to promote positive food safety practices and peer-to-peer training. The initiative led to 20% more meat samples being of acceptable quality. A follow-up study in 2019 on the same group of butchers found that, while many of the butchers still remembered the food safety practices, "none of the butchers reported that they continued to buy and replace the materials after the exhaustion of those distributed during the intervention programme". The follow-up study found that the microbiological sanitation in 2018 was even worse than before the 2008–2009 intervention.

References

{{Retail-market-stub Oyo State Retail markets in Ibadan